We’ve all heard rumors about the day when digital book purchases will surpass that of regular books.
Well, according to print and digital book selling giant Amazon.com, it’s finally happened – with digital book purchases outselling paperback book purchases on the site.
To be sure, as of January 1, Amazon cited 115 Kindle books sold for every 100 paperbacks sold.
The company also states that since January 1 it has sold three times as many Kindle books as hardcover books “across Amazon.com’s entire U.S. book business and includes sales of books where there is no Kindle edition.”
Of course, Amazon has claimed similar stats in the past, noting that e-book sales were outselling hardcover books, but refusing to release any real numbers to back up the claim.
Some reports suggest Amazon sold more than 8 million Kindles in 2010 and e-books for multiple platforms like iPad, Android, and other tablets.
Forrester Research released a study concluding that consumers spent $1 billion on e-books in 2010 and that sales will reach $1.2 billion by 2011.
According to the survey, the majority of people believe e-books will constitute half of trade books units by 2014 and 53% of people agreed that print sales will decrease within the year.
Findings released by Amazon and Forrester Research confirm every paper book lovers worst fear, digital print really is taking over paperback print slowly, but indeed surely.
Although findings prove the slow digital takeover, there will probably never be a day when digital books completely take over print books.
I mean, seriously, can you imagine a day without coffee table books or your favorite old tattered book on a beach trip? While it may be easily to consume digital content on the day-to-day, nothing can ever replace the smell and feel or your favorite old book.
(Via CNET) [[Kindle]]
